Potted film reviews by Gary Anthony Cross

Pitch Black (2000)

The passengers on a space transport turn to a ruthless prisoner for help when their ship crash lands on a deserted planet inhabited by a swarm of flesh eating nocturnal creatures.

Pitch Black is the film that was the stepping stone to stardom for Vin Diesel and here he perfected his laconic, amoral tough guy persona. His charismatic presence lifts the film above the crowd of low budget cult sci-fis out there and thanks to some creative and economical direction from David Twohy it cracks along with the appropriate tension and atmosphere required for this kind of thing to work. It clearly lifts a lot of ideas from the first two Alien films but it does it with a modicum of style despite some slightly dated looking special effects. The only serious flaw is that Radha Mitchell is slightly lacking as a central character, especially in the scenes she shares with the dominating presence of Diesel.

Not bad at all however and a lot better than most sci-fi horror B-movies out there.